BU3 Lee gets a homecoming celebration

Nearly 20 family members and friends were on hand to honor and welcome home Seabee BU3 Kadisha Lee. “We do what Seabees do best,” said Lee. “But I a glad to be home.”

Lee returned home from a six month deployment in Djibouti, Africa The reunion celebration was held on the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion in Port Hueneme, CA.

Today approximately 55,000 women serve in the Navy. Female sailors have been portraying two different aspects. One aspect is a strong female who can perform the same demanding duties as a male and the other is a more compassionate side depicting a mother. In the beginning, women solely served as clerical workers known as yeomaettes and nurses.

By World War II, 90,000 female officers and enlisted reservists known as WAVES served in the U.S. and overseas. These women served in roles such as air traffic controllers, artists, cryptologists, hospital corpsmen, linguists and weather specialists.

It wasn’t until the late 70’s that women would be allowed to be on ships. Once on ships, women started to fill rates that were solely performed by males.

One of Lee’s early deployment was to Afghanistan, part of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion FOUR’s. The Detail Four, was a all female build team that provided contingency engineering and construction across Afghanistan.